Hello!! So today I will be just wrapping up about the topic of light pollution! I will just be talking about an organisation that I have been looking at for the research of these past few blogposts.
The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) is a grassroots organisation that aims to ‘preserve and protect the nighttime environment and the heritage of dark skies through raising awareness about the importance of darkness at night, and to provide education and guidance about quality outdoor lighting’ (Zielińska-Dabkowska, Xavia and Bobkowska, 2020). It was established in the USA in 1988 and it aims to educate decision makers on the harmful consequences of light pollution and even the positive effects of ensuring that the night sky is maintained. They have a website that provides extensive information about light pollution and if you are interested, it is a great website to check out: https://www.darksky.org/about/
Recently, the IDA and the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), which is an educational authority in the US, signed an agreement to come up with strategies to tackle the problem of light pollution on a global scale. They came up with ‘The Five Principles for Responsible Outdoor Lighting” which recommend strategies for countries, companies and individuals to follow to help reduce night polltuion:
- To use light only if it is needed—all light should have a clear purpose
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To use shielding and direct light only where it is needed\
To minimize brightness—light should be no brighter than necessary
To use controls such as timers, sensors, and motion detectors to activate, dim, or turn lighting off
To minimize the amount of shorter wavelength (blue-violet) lighting and to favor the use of warm color temperature of light or less.
(Zielińska-Dabkowska, Xavia and Bobkowska, 2020)
This brings me to the end for this blogpost but definitely not the end for light pollution! Thank you
Reference:
Zielińska-Dabkowska, K., Xavia, K. and Bobkowska, K., 2020. Assessment of Citizens’ Actions against Light Pollution with Guidelines for Future Initiatives. Sustainability, 12(12), p.4997.
Featured Image:
The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), 2020. The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). [image] Available at: <https://www.darksky.org/> [Accessed 28 October 2020].
Sze Jie October 27, 2021
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